Camille Virot

Virot PAGE

Born in Franche-Comté in 1947, Camille Virot studied ceramics at the Beaux-Arts in Besançon and then at the Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg. In 1972, he opened a studio in Haute-Provence, where he practiced Raku. Since 1976, the artist has divided his time between didactic work (courses and lectures in art schools) and the pursuit of personal plastic expression based on traditional Japanese Raku techniques. In 1985, together with Pascaline Virot-Marini, he founded Editions ARgile, and has published a number of works devoted to a reflection on contemporary ceramics, including, in 2009, "L'atelier Camille Virot" and "Huit artistes et la terre" (Eight artists and the earth) - a publication considered today to be one of the major writings on ceramic art. 
Initiator of a program of encounters between European ceramists and African potters (1991-1995) supported by the French Ministry of Culture, Camille Virot was responsible for the traveling exhibition "Poterie Nègre", whose collection is now part of the documentary collection of the Musée des Confluences in Lyon.

Since 1990, Camille Virot has been combining clay with other materials. However, the artist remains faithful to her earlier work, "refreshing it and adapting it to today's language" as he himself puts it. Virot allows himself almost anything, and his works oscillate magnificently between " stone and fleshThese objects are also, and often originally, responses to life's needs.

In 2018, Camille Virot was one of the guests at the Parcours de l'Art in Avignon, presenting a highly acclaimed installation entitled "15 TÊTES & 50 états transitoires" at the Eglise des Célestins.

Since 2009, the Galerie de l'Ancienne Poste has been offering a permanent selection of works emblematic of Camille Virot's artistic career and which have contributed to her international renown: the Silexes, the Bols-genèse, the Têtes, the Boîtes, the Maisons, the Agraires...

Public and private collections

  • Musée national de la Céramique de Sèvres
  • Grassi Museum, Leipzig (D)
  • Musée du Cinquantenaire, Brussels (B)
  • Ariana Museum, Geneva (CH)
  • Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon
  • La Piscine, André Diligent Museum of Art and Industry, Roubaix
  • Museum of Contemporary Art, Dunkirk
  • Musée Déchelette, Roanne
  • Keramis, La Louvière (B)
  • Museum of Decorative Arts Ghent (B)
  • Musée de la faïence, Sarreguemines
  • FRAC Normandie
  • Fonds national d'art contemporain - FNAC, Paris
  • Museum of Modern Art, Villeneuve d'Ascq
  • Darmstatt (Landesmuseum) (D)
  • Stuttgart (Landesmuseum)(D)
  • Special prize for touring piece (Biennale de Vallauris, 1977)

Solo exhibitions at the gallery

Works

Main recent exhibitions

2024
"vivid materials, exogenous blends, hidden horizons". Galerie de l'Ancienne Poste
"Urgent crier" gallery Maison de Brian (collective). Simiane
2023
Gallery Maison de Brian, Simiane
2022
Kunstforum Solothurn (collective), (CH)
2021
Galerie de l'Ancienne PosteToucy
GalerieTerra Viva, St Quentin la Poterie
"By fire, color". Lyon Museum of Fine Arts
2020
"The world in a bowl, Galerie de l'Ancienne PosteToucy, Yonne
La Maison de Brian, Simiane-la-Rotonde, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
2019
"Contemporary ceramics", Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon
"Naître de la terre", Galerie Atelier 28, Lyon
2018
"Artistes de la Galerie, focus Camille Virot", Galerie de l'Ancienne Poste
Salagon Museum, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
"15 Têtes & 50 états transitoires", Parcours de l'Art, Eglise des Célestins, Avignon
2017
"Terres d'Afrique", Musée des Confluences, Lyon
2016
Galerie de l'Ancienne PosteToucy
2015
Geneviève Godar Gallery, Lille
La Maison de Brian, Simiane-la-Rotonde, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
2014
Artes Gallery, Troyes, Aube
Gallery 22, Coustellet, Vaucluse
Gallery Erskine Hall & Coe, London (GB)
2013
"Eight artists and the earth", Ariana Museum, Geneva (CH)
La Borne Ceramic Center, Cher
La Maison de Brian, Simiane-la-Rotonde, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence

  • Camille Virot
  • Camille Virot - Célestins church - ceramic sculpture exhibition
  • Camille Virot